Recommend a movie

[Vultural]

Maya - 1949 - 6/10

After the ship docks, crewmen hurry into the red light district in search of company.
The most acclaimed prostitute goes by many names, but most call her Maya.
Ennui fills her.  Whereas the other girls force bright smiles and laughs, she is resigned.
One seaman falls for her, and falls hard.  He starts imagining an “us,” though she dissuades him.
The lighting and set design are remarkable, an offshoot of Expressionism.
Narrative itself is drama, replete with meaning-heavy dialogue.
Could’ve and might’ve been a play.  Felt stagey despite attempts to open it up.

[Vultural]

Subway - 1985 - 6/10

Christopher Lambert goes blonde!  Isabelle Adjani longs for love!  Jean Reno hits the drums!
Petty thieves, musicians, police and bodybuilders slum and slam in the Paris subway.
Early Luc Besson film is flashy, empty headed, filled with attractive, soulless characters.
Henchmen chase an impulsive opportunist who hides himself in the underground of the underground.
Metro police are more concerned about a roller s****ing purse snatcher.
Love tries to flourish -- as does a pop concert!
Mindless fun, and a prevue of bigger things to come.

[Vultural]

Panique - 1947 - 6/10

Some never catch a break.
Take Monsieur Hire.  He keeps to himself, pays bills promptly and in full, does not gossip, is nice to children.
And yet -- he is a bit of a social outcast, even though he has lived in the village three years.
When an elderly spinster is murdered in an empty lot, citizens start looking for the killer in their midst.
A mysterious woman arrives, and Monsieur Hire casts his lonely gaze her way.
This is a film of surface appearances, simmering with suspicion and mob fury.

I suspect Panique resonated strongly when released in post WWII France.
Occupation, collaboration and Vichy were clear memories to audiences.

[Vultural]

Sharknado 5 - 2017 - 4/10

Latest installment of overcooked, feeble minded franchise.
Who watches this?  Guilty here, I live with two obsessed sharky finatics.
Story borrows from - plays homage to - steals from a plethora of action classics.
For the knowledgeable, there will be quotes, puns and groaners.
Cameos litter the cast.  From desperate has-beens to cosmetic surgery survivors who resemble lab experiments.
Story?  Oh, sorry.  Shark infested tornadoes down spout the globe.
Luckily for those nations there are Yanks who will save them.
One of them even says,  “We’re trying to make America great again ... make the world great again.”
Audiences across the planet howl in glee.

[Vultural]

Born To Be Blue - 2015 - 6/10

Iffy musing on Chet Baker’s “missing years.”
Between the glamorous, youthful heyday and the stubborn comeback.
The years when his teeth were knocked out and he had to rebuild his embouchure.
This is not a biopic proper.  The girlfriend is a composite of Halema, Diane and Ruth.
Bit careless on chronology, too.  And the ending -- no.
Credit to filmmakers for trying to show the unpleasant side of Baker to balance the talent.
They did not go far enough, though, and this is too feel goody for my understanding of Mr Baker.

[Vultural]

Let’s Get Lost - 1988 - 7/10

After watching the well meaning, but sweetened portrayal of Chet Baker, I dug out this blunt alternative.
The face and soul of chronic addiction, shot in stark black n white.

Difficult, at times abrasive, biography of the prince of Cool.
Flashbacks, old photos, new performances.
Plenty of “candid” answers and ruminations from Mr Baker.
Counterbalanced with corrections from producers, fellow sidemen and the women in his life.
Women, meaning his mother, one of his wives, his daughter, two girlfriends.
Terrific film of a horribly flawed man, but genuinely gifted musician.

Confession, I''m a big fan of Chet Baker.  I have close to sixty recordings and I'm still buying titles of his.
A haunting artist of despair and regret, especially in his later years, but as a human, a right piece of work.

[Vultural]

Weinberg - 2015 - 7/10
AKA - The Valley

A man revives underneath a dead girl, bleeding him awake.
He stumbles into the village, alerts the authorities, who find -- no body.
The next day he sees the same girl, very much alive, wearing the harvest princess outfit.
Alive just for the day, until night.  Until darkness gathers and the wraith.

Our protagonist, a drifter with amnesia, is in the middle of a history of murders.
The remote village is a haunted landscape of mist, autumnal decay, and buried secrets.
Part horror, part mystery, more than anything - for lack of a better word - weird.
With every scandal unearthed, corruption revealed, sin exposed, the adversary exalts.
Imaginative, six-part Gothic labyrinth from Germany.

[Vultural]

Your Vice Is a Locked Room and Only I Have the Key - 1972 - 6/10
AKA - Il Tuo Vizio è Una Stanza Chiusa e Solo io ne ho la Chiave

Kinky, sleazy, degenerate, incestuous, oft times confusing, but what the hey?
An entertaining Giallo with plenty of twists and slashings to please cult fans.
Washed up, philandering alcoholic writer holes up in his inherited manor house.
He entertains homeless hippies, humiliates his downbeat wife, and chases tail when not suffering whisky dick.
When some of his paramours are split open with a hook knife, locale polizia zero in on him.
Out of the blue, his niece (the succulent Edwige Fenech) arrives and shares the velvet spasm with eager comers.
There are like five plots going on, but you will be transfixed by the nudity, rompings, gore, dirt bike races, and a contrary black cat named Satan who knows more than his human counterparts.

[Vultural]

Run All Night - 2015 - 5/10

Non-demanding action buffs, score this higher, though long time viewers of Liam Neeson might shake their heads.
Sad sack, ex-mob enforcer learns family is targeted for deadly retribution.
What to do?  Mob family or blood family?
Do his old skills kick in?  How will he fare against thugs bigger, younger, quicker?
Clichéd, derivative script borrows heavily from The Road To Perdition.
Run - fight - chase - fight - hide - fight - run - fight .....
Actor Common memorable as cool headed professional hitman, everyone else coasts.
Better than Taken 2, better than Walk Among Tombstones, but still ...
Why does Neeson appear to be following the path of Nicolas Cage?

[Vultural]

Suntan - 2016 - 6/10

The inversion of “coming of age” story.
During Christmas, Kostis arrives on small Greek island as the new doctor.
The village is sleepy, with 800 residents and he is mostly to himself.
With summer, the population explodes with sun loving turistas.
Kostis treats an injured young girl, and gradually becomes obsessed with her.
His overweight, extremely pale self shows at the nude beach where she and her friends loll nude.
He splashes into pool parties, dances at the raves, drinks, neglects the medical clinic.
Sadly, not an implausible tale, and older viewers can predict how Kostis will fare.
Full frontal nudity throughout.

The old guy at the club is a common, annoying presence.
In my  clubbin’ days, I saw 40ish guys, shirts deeply unbuttoned, exposing a thick patch of gray or silver chest hair.
When I was older, I worked with similar aged souls (male and female) who continued to chase and flirt with twenty year olds.  We mocked them, but they always saw themselves in the looking glass, forever young.

[Vultural]

Clara Bow: Hollywood's Lost Screen Goddess - 2012 - 6/10

Unnecessary, redundant documentary on one of the Silent Era’s greatest actors.
Clara’s life is presented in more or less chronological order, though accompanying clips do bounce around.
For example, while commenting on her mid-Paramount career, work from her 30s period might be shown.
Not a real sin, and probably not noticeable by any except Clara enthusiasts.
Talking heads include Joel Stenn (Bow’s biographer) and Leonard Maltin.
Also neighbors from her final years, as well as her daughter-in-law.
Here’s the thing.  Stenn and Maltin were also part of 1999‘s Clara Bow: Discovering the It Girl, a better documentary.  Her son, Rex Bell Jr, was among the interviewees, rather than her daughter-in-law.
Still, if this is all you can locate, it should be a good introduction.
Her movies, by the way, are hit n miss.  You watch them strictly to see her expressive face.

[Vultural]

Paris Can Wait - 2016 - 6/10

Fantasy time here, or prime date flick for more seasoned females.
Wife, married to workaholic husband, opts to drive to Paris with his colleague rather than fly.
The colleague is obsessed with fine food, choice restaurants, exquisite hotels, and appreciating life.
The journey, initially half a day, stretches into three days.
Along the way, the couple converse, disclose secrets, study choices.
Weather is ideal, scenery is gorgeous, and the pair have lots of money to spend.

[Vultural]

Who Killed Cock Robin? - 2017 - 6/10
AKA - Mu ji Zhe // 目擊者

Neo-Noir from Taiwan works slowly, but is hard to disengage from.
High flying journalist, taken down a notch, suffers a car crash.
When he takes the car to be repaired, he is told the vehicle had been in a previous wreck.
The reporter has a flashback to an incident a decade earlier - an accident he had witnessed.
With persistent digging, he begins unearthing one version after another.
An uneasy tale that steps straight into darkness, before jumping into the pit.

[Vultural]

Saving Banksy - 2017 - 6/10

Story of the homeless rat, though with Banksy referenced, nothing is that simple.
In 2010, Mr Banksy visited San Francisco and left behind a fair number of street art.
Most of which were tagged over or painted over

.
The rat, painted high over Haight Street, abided, though City Hall demanded removal.
Allow one graffiti artist and numbers will swell like cockroaches on fertility pills.
A Banksy admirer and do-gooder saved the rodent by taking it down (at his own expense) and storing it in his closet for a few years.
While fame sky rocketed and inane rich collectors and predatory middle men sniffed the collectible cheese.
Street art - street art - remind yourself - only street art.  Graffiti.
Nonetheless, the wine n cheese, desperate to appear cultured, babble and soil themselves.
Irritatingly funny - you will shake your head.

[Vultural]

Zimmer 13 - 1964 - 6/10
AKA - Room 13

London’s top private eye is hired by a member of Parliament after a shady character from his past comes calling.
At its root, this is a caper film.  An old fashioned train robbery.
Being a German Krimi, however, there are dozens of subplots and distractions.
Straight off, a serial killer is murdering fräuleins - excuse me, British lovelies.
Numerous shenanigans occur at the High & Low Club, which is a glorified striptease parlor.
This is where our ace detective takes evening dates, by the way.
Not to worry, one of the exotic dancers is a female cop.  How do we know?  Because she wears regulation Scotland Yard underwear.  I suppose Bobbies for boo - ... well, maybe I shouldn’t go there.
Pedestrian plot elevated by a nice jazz score, zippy pace, comic touches.

[Vultural]

Luck Key - 2016 - 6/10

Polished Korean hitman suffers an accident and suffers amnesia.
A young, shiftless indebted actor seizes the opportunity and switches identity papers.
Gradually, he realizes the noose he has put himself into.
The better - funnier - story follows the assassin who thinks he is an actor.
He has the superior work ethic, but he is a clueless actor, nonetheless.
Until he is cast in a crime drama where his ingrained skills rise to the fore.
Viewers do not need to be familiar with K-dramas to laugh at this.
Be warned, since this does spoof K-dramas, there will be romance.
But no tears - rejoice!

[Vultural]

Flames Of Love - 1967 - 7/10
AKA - Jôen // The Affair // 情炎

Moody drama of young woman chastising her widowed mother’s scandalous behaviour.
Her mother led affairs with lower class men, took to drink, and was run over by a truck.
Now the daughter, unhappily married, sees a similar path, darkly beckoning, in comparison with her faithless, businessman husband and meaningless home life.
A slow film, with compositions immaculate and imaginative.  
Fascinating to watch her question those around her, and in so doing, question herself.
Her choices are extremely limited, and no matter how open minded men declare themselves, few are.
Arresting sound mix, as well.  A perky instrumental balanced with stark silence or musique concrète.

[Vultural]

Noces - 2016 - 7/10
AKA - A Wedding

Uncomfortable story of relocated Pakistani family living in France.
The 18 year old daughter ponders an abortion.  Waffles and procrastinates.
After she makes a decision, the family concludes she needs to marry.
Living in France, she is becoming too Western.
She is given three photos of Pakistani males and told to choose.
Again, she procrastinates, only this time the screws bear down.
You root for her because she has spirit and joie de vivre, but family pressure is agonizing.

Though opening credits state,  “Inspired by true events,”
much of the story seemed to evoke Madame Bovary.

[Vultural]

American Pastoral - 2016 - 4/10

Overwrought, over-acted, out of date yarn of girl who turns radical in the 60s, then goes underground.
Wait, no, the story is really about the father (Ewan McGregor) who spends his time (life) hunting for his daughter.
He is below amateur in this, by the way, committing mistakes, making terrible judgment errors.
Then again, there is the crumbling of his middle class, white bread marriage (to Jennifer Connelly).
Some of the scenes that might have been provocative in 1975 are laughable today.
Heavy handed downer of Roth’s  critique of the social veneer.

[jivan28]

do like your reviews, would ask you to see 'The Shack' if not seen and your take on it.